Monday, March 2, 2015

12. CHICKEN BREASTS IN LEMON CREAM

My friend Heather calls it “Chicken Crack”. The hard stuff. When
you crave it, nothing else will do. I
served it yesterday for Sunday dinner.

After church we cleared the pile of mail off the antique
bench table in our family room. We
hefted our massive coffee table to the hallway and brought in the 8’ long
folding table I bought at a garage sale 15 years ago. We set it in front of the fireplace, so four
people could use its raised hearth as seats.
The oval coffee table from the drawing room was brought in for the little
ones, their tiny chairs fitting barely under its apron. Long red tablecloths, soft cloth napkins, clean
white plates and the glass goblets we bought by the dozens for Katie and
Elliott’s wedding: all these united the
variety of tables in our large family room and dining area. When we built this house this is exactly what
we had envisioned: a space large enough for a crowd, but warm enough for
intimate conversation.

This morning I laundered and folded the tablecloths and
roughly 40 napkins. I traditionally set
my tables with tablecloths in honor of my grandmother Lizzie Parrish, whom I
never knew. My mother told me that she
always had a tablecloth on the table for dinner. Even during the Great Depression. Less than
fragrant ranch hands sat at her table, along with a passel of children. It would have been fine to just set some food
on the wooden table top and let them go at it.
But instead she used her linen. I
think of it as a sort of prayer, a call to reverence for the bounty in their
lives. Even when they weren’t so
bountiful. My grandmother had culture in
her, and even out there on that small ranch in the desert of Idaho she used it.
The cloth napkins and tablecloths I use make me feel connected to that part of
my mother’s mother.

Among the gathering yesterday were the Riggs family, and the
Gardner family. Reed Gardner is getting
married today. And Dennis Riggs has
reunited with his family in heaven this weekend. We cherish all these people. When someone from each of those families
wondered aloud if we might be having Chicken Breasts in Lemon Cream, I took it
as a sign.

And so it was.

There is nothing like that aroma of browned butter cooking
chicken and mushrooms, topped off with the scent of fresh squeezed lemons.

I took this up to my brother George's house the day his wife Cyndy passed away. It's a go-to comfort food kind of meal. My brother John turned to my husband Dave and said "Why don't you weigh 400 pounds?" You’ll have to ignore the calories in this recipe. And don’t go toying with it to try to make it
fat free. Cook something else
instead. Be true to the faith then go
for a jog.

Chicken Breasts in
Lemon Cream

- Boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenders, trimmed,

cut
thin or pounded thin (1/3 lb per serving)

- 4-6 fresh lemons for juice

- whole cream (roughly 1/2 pint per 2 servings)

- chicken broth (roughly 1/2 pint per 2 servings)

- fresh mushrooms

- butter

- olive oil

- flour, salt and pepper

cooked rice (parslied rice pilaf is great with this recipe)

Prepare hot rice to serve under chicken.

Squeeze juice of lemons into a bowl, remove seeds, and add
lemon juice to whipping cream. Stir and
set aside. (note: lately I’ve been grating some lemon peel into the cream
mixture to add more zest.)

Melt a few T butter in heavy saucepan. Sautee’ washed and sliced mushrooms in
butter. Remove from pan.

Add a glug or
two of olive oil and maybe half a cube butter. (Olive oil has a higher burning point than butter, so you can cook your
chicken on higher heat. But you also
want the flavor of butter. )

Pound chicken to an even thinness. (I cover my mallet with a plastic bag, then discard the bag when I'm done. Chicken doesn't stick to the bag as much as the metal) Dredge
chicken breast fillets in flour, salt and pepper. Cook in oil until nice and brown. Because
your chicken is thin it will cook quickly.
Do not overcook! Remove from pan
and and set aside as you cook them.

When chicken and mushrooms are all cooked add 2 Tbs butter to pan, melt it, then add 2 -4 T
flour to pan. Scrape the drippings into
the mix. Add equal parts chicken broth
and lemon cream mixture to the brownings.
Scrape the bottom of pan and heat, stirring constantly. Add cooked chicken and mushrooms to
cream mixture and heat.

Serve over hot rice.

PALSIED RICE PILAF

Long grain rice (Jasmine rice makes a nice fluffy pilaf)

1/4 to 1/2 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped (I use Italian parsley but either will work.)

You are the very best at comfort food. It is a tribute to the fact that you always have your doors wide open to friends and family, and your home is a place where people gather. You are a gift to so many.